Brits unable to recognize top women in tech

McAfee’s survey of 4,000 adults in the UK found that while male leaders in the technology sector are well known to many, women are not.

More than three-quarters of Brits recognized Mark Zuckerberg as the founder of Facebook, 90% had heard of Bill Gates of Microsoft and 70% knew of the late Steve Jobs of Apple.

However, just 8% had heard of Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and 17% knew of Martha Lane Fox, founder of Lastminute.com. Overall, 73% said they had not heard of any high-ranking women in the field of technology.

McAfee’s research was conducted to highlight those 7,500 or so women that made up almost 75% of the workforce at Bletchley Park where they decoded and deciphered German messages during World War 2.

According to Samantha Humphries-Swift, labs manager at McAfee, “women have always played an important role in the growth and development of the technology industry”. Of the women at Bletchley Park Humphries-Swift says “these women were the original female role models of modern computing. It’s this history, combined with the leaders in technology today that should serve to inspire current and future generations of both men and women into the world of IT”.

The Duchess of Cambridge recently visited the newly restored Bletchley Park which is now an education and heritage site. Her grandmother, Valerie Glassborrow, had once worked there during wartime.

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